The Ancient Craft
+4
tgII
quicksilvercrescendo
seraphim
KapitanScarlet
8 posters
Page 1 of 3
Page 1 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Re: The Ancient Craft
It's about time they got someone new in the office!
They have become catholicised, if that's a word. Before that the chinese culture got them and they still retain some of those beliefs. They are really big on wearing polka dots for good luck at new years and spreading coins around the house so they would be lucky in the finances. Those are chinese customs they got.
But great, going way back to something that makes more sense! They have very few elders who keep the old traditions.
They have become catholicised, if that's a word. Before that the chinese culture got them and they still retain some of those beliefs. They are really big on wearing polka dots for good luck at new years and spreading coins around the house so they would be lucky in the finances. Those are chinese customs they got.
But great, going way back to something that makes more sense! They have very few elders who keep the old traditions.
seraphim- Posts : 1180
Join date : 2009-11-18
Re: The Ancient Craft
On cHannel 4 recently in the uk , were shown 2 programs that are a perfect example of how television can be used to adjust, weave and seal judgement
The first one was called "Decoded dan browns lost Symbol" the second one was "The Real Da Vinci Code"
I have obtained an opening clip from the first program here which shows an insight into a freemasons hall and some very impressive artwork, where the presenter fares naively in presenting his choice of questions to the master and is replied to with polished answers like a headmaster responding to a mischievous child enflamed by curiosity and not much more
"Im not avoiding anything at all, There are no secrets"
An if anyone likes to view the full programs , you can do here, they were shown on 26th DEC 2009
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od
oops they banned the youtube video above within 10 minutes of its upload
Just crystalised with youtube, and its only banned to viewers in these areas Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, United Kingdom, but can be viewed by viewers outside these areas
The first one was called "Decoded dan browns lost Symbol" the second one was "The Real Da Vinci Code"
I have obtained an opening clip from the first program here which shows an insight into a freemasons hall and some very impressive artwork, where the presenter fares naively in presenting his choice of questions to the master and is replied to with polished answers like a headmaster responding to a mischievous child enflamed by curiosity and not much more
"Im not avoiding anything at all, There are no secrets"
An if anyone likes to view the full programs , you can do here, they were shown on 26th DEC 2009
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od
oops they banned the youtube video above within 10 minutes of its upload
Just crystalised with youtube, and its only banned to viewers in these areas Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, United Kingdom, but can be viewed by viewers outside these areas
Last edited by Kapis on Mon 28 Dec 2009, 11:33; edited 1 time in total
Re: The Ancient Craft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashlar
When a stone for the Temple was prepared by the builders, it was first chiseled into a rough cube, known as a rough Ashlar. It was then the task of the more skilled craftsmen to form it into a smooth Ashlar, fit to take its place in the walls of the Temple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbel_arch
The Symbolism of the Pentagram
by Bro. James W. Maertens, Ph.D.
The Pentagram is a geometric figure derived from a pentagon, a regular polygon of five sides. In symbolic Geometry it thus can symbolize anything to do with the number five. The Office Building for the United States Armed Services was constructed in the shape of a Pentagon -- hence its common name. Freemasons have been criticized for the use of the Pentagram as a symbol, usually on the grounds that it is "Satanic." Well, while it is true that some so-called Satanists have adopted this symbol that does not make a five-pointed star "Satanic". The pentagram is not a major symbol in Freemasonry, but where it does appear it is usallly interpreted as a symbol of the five senses, which are given treatment in the Fellowcraft degree as one of the mystic meanings of of the number five.
Masonry derives its major symbols from Geometry and traditionally the Craft equates itself with the science of Geometry as the basis not only for the operative craft of stonemasonry (and indeed all building), but also as the basis for a symbolic system that is applied to self-knowledge. Leonardo DaVinci's famous drawing called the Vetruvian Man shows a human form that links the proportions of circle, square, and pentagram. The significance of this is to remark upon the beautiful geometry of the human form with its four limbs and head. The star thus can be taken as a symbol of Mankind, or the Human Condition. But it also can be related to the five senses: smelling, feeling, hearing, tasting, and seeing. Note that these are all active verbs, not merely passive faculties. For Masons the senses are themselves symbolic of the relationshp among brothers who use the sense of touch in their handshake, the sense of hearing for their passwords and for receiving instruction, and the sense of seeing to see the signs which make up the craft. Smelling and tasting are more applicable to the festive board, but they too are included in the full five that maketh Man.
But Freemasons did not make up the pentagram, as should be obvious with a moment's thought. It is a symbol with its roots in alchemy and in the ancient mysteries. The metaphorical interpretation of geometric figures goes back to Pythagoras and the beginnings of philosophy.
In alchemical symbolism the five points signify the interconnection of the four elements (Air, Fire, Water, and Earth) united by the fifth element or "quintessence" that is sometimes called Aether and more often Spirit. This meaning is not a Masonic one, but I include it here to demonstrate that during the 18th and 19th centuries, if not earlier, Freemasonry was interwoven with Kabbalism, magic, and alchemy as approaches to understanding Nature and Man's place in it. This interweaving of philosophical traditions was due to the interests of particular Freemasons not to the Craft as a whole (indeed it is impossible to generalize about the Craft as a whole because no one has ever spoken for all Masonry).
The pentagram is used in traditional Chinese medicine and Taoism too, which employs a system of five elements rather than four (Water, Wood, Metal, Fire, Earth). The fact that we have five digits on each of our hands and feet is another way that five becomes a mysterious number signifying humanity. More recently, the pentagram has been widely publicized as the chief symbol of Wicca or the modern religion of "witchcraft." Wicca and Freemasonry are utterly different institutions, though the modern redactor of Wicca, Gerald Gardner borrowed a few things from Masonry, just as did Joseph Smith, the creator of the Mormon church. All of these are distinct institutions and the only connection between modern witches and Freemasons lies in the fact that both traditions have drawn upon the deep well of Kabbalah and Western metaphysical symbolism. Among Wiccans, the pentagram doesn't have anything to do with Satan either.
Perhaps the deepest symbolism of the the number five and its geometric figure in Freemasonry is the Masonic "five points of fellowship" which are a part of the rituals and allude to five duties of one brother to another. Those duties are:
1. To walk with our brothers and help them on their path through life
2. To remember our brothers in our prayers
3. To deal with our brothers always "heart-to-heart"
4. To listen to our brothers attentively and with civility
5. To speak kindly to our brothers, giving them good and wholesome advice when we see them err.
This beautiful symbolism is well-known to Masons and those who apply strange meanings to the pentagram which are inconsistent with the values of the Craft do so out of ignorance, malice, or both.
Finally, one of the affiliated or "appendant" bodies associated with Craft Masonry, the Order of the Eastern Star, uses the pentagram along with other symbols within each of the five points. The Order of the Eastern Star was created as an American institution that permitted women to be members and undergo an initiation of their own. The need for this separate order arose in a time when in American culture women were not permitted to assemble freely with men, nor to even assemble together in clubs without a male escort. It was just not considered "ladylike" and indeed in that time was dangerous. In the liberated times we live in today, such a need may be hard to fathom but the O.E.S. continues to help bring wives and daughters of Master Masons into Masonic life.
The significance of the pentagram for the Order of the Eastern Star is at least two-fold. First, it symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem that the three magi followed to Bethlehem to discover the Savior. Second, its five points stand for the five Biblical and Christian heroines whose stories serve as moral lessons for the sisterhood. The reason that the fifth point is pointing down is to indicate that the light of the star is descending to Earth from Heaven. Just as in DaVinci's Vetruvian Man, the fifth point up points to Heaven and symbolizes that the head of a Man is that part of his body directed upward to the Divine world.
When a stone for the Temple was prepared by the builders, it was first chiseled into a rough cube, known as a rough Ashlar. It was then the task of the more skilled craftsmen to form it into a smooth Ashlar, fit to take its place in the walls of the Temple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbel_arch
The Symbolism of the Pentagram
by Bro. James W. Maertens, Ph.D.
The Pentagram is a geometric figure derived from a pentagon, a regular polygon of five sides. In symbolic Geometry it thus can symbolize anything to do with the number five. The Office Building for the United States Armed Services was constructed in the shape of a Pentagon -- hence its common name. Freemasons have been criticized for the use of the Pentagram as a symbol, usually on the grounds that it is "Satanic." Well, while it is true that some so-called Satanists have adopted this symbol that does not make a five-pointed star "Satanic". The pentagram is not a major symbol in Freemasonry, but where it does appear it is usallly interpreted as a symbol of the five senses, which are given treatment in the Fellowcraft degree as one of the mystic meanings of of the number five.
Masonry derives its major symbols from Geometry and traditionally the Craft equates itself with the science of Geometry as the basis not only for the operative craft of stonemasonry (and indeed all building), but also as the basis for a symbolic system that is applied to self-knowledge. Leonardo DaVinci's famous drawing called the Vetruvian Man shows a human form that links the proportions of circle, square, and pentagram. The significance of this is to remark upon the beautiful geometry of the human form with its four limbs and head. The star thus can be taken as a symbol of Mankind, or the Human Condition. But it also can be related to the five senses: smelling, feeling, hearing, tasting, and seeing. Note that these are all active verbs, not merely passive faculties. For Masons the senses are themselves symbolic of the relationshp among brothers who use the sense of touch in their handshake, the sense of hearing for their passwords and for receiving instruction, and the sense of seeing to see the signs which make up the craft. Smelling and tasting are more applicable to the festive board, but they too are included in the full five that maketh Man.
But Freemasons did not make up the pentagram, as should be obvious with a moment's thought. It is a symbol with its roots in alchemy and in the ancient mysteries. The metaphorical interpretation of geometric figures goes back to Pythagoras and the beginnings of philosophy.
In alchemical symbolism the five points signify the interconnection of the four elements (Air, Fire, Water, and Earth) united by the fifth element or "quintessence" that is sometimes called Aether and more often Spirit. This meaning is not a Masonic one, but I include it here to demonstrate that during the 18th and 19th centuries, if not earlier, Freemasonry was interwoven with Kabbalism, magic, and alchemy as approaches to understanding Nature and Man's place in it. This interweaving of philosophical traditions was due to the interests of particular Freemasons not to the Craft as a whole (indeed it is impossible to generalize about the Craft as a whole because no one has ever spoken for all Masonry).
The pentagram is used in traditional Chinese medicine and Taoism too, which employs a system of five elements rather than four (Water, Wood, Metal, Fire, Earth). The fact that we have five digits on each of our hands and feet is another way that five becomes a mysterious number signifying humanity. More recently, the pentagram has been widely publicized as the chief symbol of Wicca or the modern religion of "witchcraft." Wicca and Freemasonry are utterly different institutions, though the modern redactor of Wicca, Gerald Gardner borrowed a few things from Masonry, just as did Joseph Smith, the creator of the Mormon church. All of these are distinct institutions and the only connection between modern witches and Freemasons lies in the fact that both traditions have drawn upon the deep well of Kabbalah and Western metaphysical symbolism. Among Wiccans, the pentagram doesn't have anything to do with Satan either.
Perhaps the deepest symbolism of the the number five and its geometric figure in Freemasonry is the Masonic "five points of fellowship" which are a part of the rituals and allude to five duties of one brother to another. Those duties are:
1. To walk with our brothers and help them on their path through life
2. To remember our brothers in our prayers
3. To deal with our brothers always "heart-to-heart"
4. To listen to our brothers attentively and with civility
5. To speak kindly to our brothers, giving them good and wholesome advice when we see them err.
This beautiful symbolism is well-known to Masons and those who apply strange meanings to the pentagram which are inconsistent with the values of the Craft do so out of ignorance, malice, or both.
Finally, one of the affiliated or "appendant" bodies associated with Craft Masonry, the Order of the Eastern Star, uses the pentagram along with other symbols within each of the five points. The Order of the Eastern Star was created as an American institution that permitted women to be members and undergo an initiation of their own. The need for this separate order arose in a time when in American culture women were not permitted to assemble freely with men, nor to even assemble together in clubs without a male escort. It was just not considered "ladylike" and indeed in that time was dangerous. In the liberated times we live in today, such a need may be hard to fathom but the O.E.S. continues to help bring wives and daughters of Master Masons into Masonic life.
The significance of the pentagram for the Order of the Eastern Star is at least two-fold. First, it symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem that the three magi followed to Bethlehem to discover the Savior. Second, its five points stand for the five Biblical and Christian heroines whose stories serve as moral lessons for the sisterhood. The reason that the fifth point is pointing down is to indicate that the light of the star is descending to Earth from Heaven. Just as in DaVinci's Vetruvian Man, the fifth point up points to Heaven and symbolizes that the head of a Man is that part of his body directed upward to the Divine world.
quicksilvercrescendo- Posts : 1868
Join date : 2009-12-01
Location : The Here & Now
Re: The Ancient Craft
A completly misrepresented symbol Qsc, keeps the conditioned members of society away from knowing its true representation and purpose , even today through fear and superstition but welcome elaboration
On that Freemasonic " interview" not to mention the rest of the "investigation"
There is a term known as "Black truths" here, that are a means of supplying an answer that matches the proportionate intention of the inquirers question , so that the answerer is not lying or deceiving in his own understanding of that dynamic , but just supplying "relative truth" to calm the excitation of the questioner in a satisfactory manner , but which can be well removed from absolute revelation
NOw for those well-versed in uk tv, that interviewer Tony Robinson , has a day job in a program called Time tEam, in which he goes around the country digging up artefacts that ten to confirm the uk official version of history , previous to that, he was the character bAldrick in the black adder comedy series among other snippets
Now 2 questions come to my mind regarding how baldrick configured his questions to the master, and how he allowed the limited replies to suffice, all the while with his consistent chimp grin .
Is Baldrick a mason and he was enjoying his joke performance as a serious inquiry to that master , wearing his chequered scarf
Or seen as baldrick is supposed to be a professional archaeology investigator on his time team series, surely this guy would have carried out even some internet research on the masons where at least he could have armed himself with quite a lot of information that would have allowed him to seriously put that master on the square with some well versed questions and required follow-ups.
Or is he really just a dumb-ass tv presenter and if so, what authority allowed him to front that investigation
Im not suggesting authentic freemasonry is evil but it is known that there is a lot lot more to freemasonry than baldrick the "professional" managed to even hint at seriously ,in fact he did the opposite , he seemed to try to remove any "black art investigation" from masonry and it may have been possible to make them sound good without having to present the candyfloss investigation of dan browns piece to take the spotlight of masonrys real "shadow"
The program was made by wildfire tv UK, the 2 main dudes being Philip Clarke who is baldricks timeteam buddy and George Paggliero
Wildfire tv website does not give much of a trail to any higher owners
Philip clarke is one of the founder members of Wildfire tv in 2001 , whos broadcast interests are
Aviation history
The Persians
Maritime history
Afghanistan
Investigative history and science
Experiential history
Science and history formats
he is also the exec producer of time team and an executive director of another media company called Feelgood Fiction , but there is not much info on him netwise, he is low key.
The other dude George Paggliero, shows up in 2006 as a development producer for Lion Tv uk, which shows up as a fast rising best independent tv company in uk with 241 million recent turnover, but independent does not mean they did that alone, they are owned by the international All3Media group who in turn are a puppet of the PERMIRA investment group formerly known as Schroder Ventures Europe
am keeping an eye on baldrick
On that Freemasonic " interview" not to mention the rest of the "investigation"
There is a term known as "Black truths" here, that are a means of supplying an answer that matches the proportionate intention of the inquirers question , so that the answerer is not lying or deceiving in his own understanding of that dynamic , but just supplying "relative truth" to calm the excitation of the questioner in a satisfactory manner , but which can be well removed from absolute revelation
NOw for those well-versed in uk tv, that interviewer Tony Robinson , has a day job in a program called Time tEam, in which he goes around the country digging up artefacts that ten to confirm the uk official version of history , previous to that, he was the character bAldrick in the black adder comedy series among other snippets
Now 2 questions come to my mind regarding how baldrick configured his questions to the master, and how he allowed the limited replies to suffice, all the while with his consistent chimp grin .
Is Baldrick a mason and he was enjoying his joke performance as a serious inquiry to that master , wearing his chequered scarf
Or seen as baldrick is supposed to be a professional archaeology investigator on his time team series, surely this guy would have carried out even some internet research on the masons where at least he could have armed himself with quite a lot of information that would have allowed him to seriously put that master on the square with some well versed questions and required follow-ups.
Or is he really just a dumb-ass tv presenter and if so, what authority allowed him to front that investigation
Im not suggesting authentic freemasonry is evil but it is known that there is a lot lot more to freemasonry than baldrick the "professional" managed to even hint at seriously ,in fact he did the opposite , he seemed to try to remove any "black art investigation" from masonry and it may have been possible to make them sound good without having to present the candyfloss investigation of dan browns piece to take the spotlight of masonrys real "shadow"
The program was made by wildfire tv UK, the 2 main dudes being Philip Clarke who is baldricks timeteam buddy and George Paggliero
Wildfire tv website does not give much of a trail to any higher owners
Philip clarke is one of the founder members of Wildfire tv in 2001 , whos broadcast interests are
Aviation history
The Persians
Maritime history
Afghanistan
Investigative history and science
Experiential history
Science and history formats
he is also the exec producer of time team and an executive director of another media company called Feelgood Fiction , but there is not much info on him netwise, he is low key.
The other dude George Paggliero, shows up in 2006 as a development producer for Lion Tv uk, which shows up as a fast rising best independent tv company in uk with 241 million recent turnover, but independent does not mean they did that alone, they are owned by the international All3Media group who in turn are a puppet of the PERMIRA investment group formerly known as Schroder Ventures Europe
am keeping an eye on baldrick
Re: The Ancient Craft
I was reading an article on that site last week. It's so interesting, I was thinking of getting one of their CD/DVD compilations, just in case the internet goes bye bye.
seraphim- Posts : 1180
Join date : 2009-11-18
Re: The Ancient Craft
Kapis and seraphim, from that link about interesting things from masonry,
the first sentence reads:
See the Pope there, he just walked out of Auschwitz, but those dudes
dressed in black and red who look so somber and dignified, if you were
to look up at that steel grated sign above them from their direction,
you would read it as such:
The correct translation into English would be, "Work makes you free."
Not that I agree entirely with what went down there, but slave labor
was an instrumental component of the Nazi state.
And as we go on, I couldn't help but being my old self after reading
this sentence:
The person who wrote this is a complete charlatan, never once
did he discuss the critical importance of the mechanism of exchange
which gives that work these masons seem to enjoy value.
Look, you just enjoy and work hard your entire life for us the big
boys and we'll pay you a pittance, then we'll give you worthless
debt money issued by us in umilimted quanitity therefore forfeiting
your productivity to us, the masters of it all.
I like Poe's answer, sealed a mason in a catacomb alive after chaining
him to a wall, then he used a concrete troll to encase him in stone, the
ultimate irony, a fitting death for masonry.
the first sentence reads:
- It is one of the most beautiful features of the Masonic Institution, that it teaches not only the necessity, but the nobility, of labor.
See the Pope there, he just walked out of Auschwitz, but those dudes
dressed in black and red who look so somber and dignified, if you were
to look up at that steel grated sign above them from their direction,
you would read it as such:
- "ARBEIT MACHT FREI"
The correct translation into English would be, "Work makes you free."
Not that I agree entirely with what went down there, but slave labor
was an instrumental component of the Nazi state.
And as we go on, I couldn't help but being my old self after reading
this sentence:
- Trestle Board, the acknowledged symbol of the Divine Law, in accordance with whose decree 199 labor was originally instituted as the common lot of all; and therefore the important lesson that is closely connected with this symbol is, that to labor well and truly, to labor honestly and persistently, is the object and the chief end of all humanity.
The person who wrote this is a complete charlatan, never once
did he discuss the critical importance of the mechanism of exchange
which gives that work these masons seem to enjoy value.
Look, you just enjoy and work hard your entire life for us the big
boys and we'll pay you a pittance, then we'll give you worthless
debt money issued by us in umilimted quanitity therefore forfeiting
your productivity to us, the masters of it all.
I like Poe's answer, sealed a mason in a catacomb alive after chaining
him to a wall, then he used a concrete troll to encase him in stone, the
ultimate irony, a fitting death for masonry.
tgII- Posts : 2431
Join date : 2009-11-17
Re: The Ancient Craft
A Masonic view on the "Eye on the Pyramid" by S. Brent Morris, P.M.
In, at times, a strongly worded article Dr. S. Morris, a member and Past Master of Patmos Lodge #70, Ellicott City, Maryland, has "set the record straight" on the myth that the Great Seal of the United States represents a Masonic symbol. The facts are clearly presented, together with several examples of the use of the "All Seeing Eye" prior to any known Masonic use. This straightforward article is being presented as a STB so that Freemasons may have an answer when the question is asked "Is the Seal of the United States a Masonic symbol?"
HISTORIANS must be cautious about many well-known "facts." George Washington chopped down a cherry tree when a boy and confessed the deed to his father. Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball. Freemasons inserted some of their emblems (chief among them the eye in the pyramid) into the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. These historical "facts" are widely popular, commonly accepted, and equally false.
The eye in the pyramid (emblazoned on the dollar bill, no less) is often cited as "evidence" that sinister conspiracies abound which will impose a "New World Order" on an unsuspecting populace. Depending on whom you hear it from, the Masons are planning the takeover themselves, or are working in concert with European bankers, or are leading (or perhaps being led by) the Illuminati (whoever they are). The notion of a world-wide Masonic conspiracy would be laughable, if it weren't being repeated with such earnest gullibility by conspiracists like Pat Robertson.
Sadly, Masons are sometimes counted among the gullible who repeat the tall tale of the eye in the pyramid, often with a touch of pride. They may be guilty of nothing worse than innocently puffing the importance of their fraternity (as well as themselves), but they're guilty nonetheless. The time has come to state the truth plainly and simply!
The Great Seal of the United States is not a Masonic emblem, nor does it contain hidden Masonic symbols.
The details are there for anyone to check, who's willing to rely on historical fact, rather than hysterical fiction.
Benjamin Franklin was the only Mason on the first design committee, and his suggestions had no Masonic content.
None of the final designers of the seal were Masons.
The interpretation of the eye on the seal is subtly different from the interpretation used by Masons.
The eye in the pyramid is not nor has it ever been a Masonic symbol.
The First Committee
On Independence Day, 1776 a committee was created to design a seal for the new American nation. The committee's members were Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, with Pierre Du Simitiere as artist and consultant[1]. Of the four men involved, only Benjamin Franklin was a Mason, and he contributed nothing of a Masonic nature to the committee's proposed design for a seal.
Du Simitiere, the committee's consultant and a non-Mason, contributed several major design features that made their way into the ultimate design of the seal: 'the shield, E Pluribus Unum, MDCCLXXVI, and the eye of providence in a triangle."[2] The eye of providence on the seal thus can be traced, not to the Masons, but to a non-Mason consultant to the committee.
"The single eye was a well-established artistic convention for an 'omniscient Ubiquitous Deity' in the medallic art of the Renaissance. Du Simitiere, who suggested using the symbol, collected art books and was familiar with the artistic and ornamental devices used in Renaissance art."[3] This was the same cultural iconography that eventually led Masons to add the all-seeing eye to their symbols.
The Second and Third Committees
Congress declined the first committees suggestions as well as those of its 1780 committee. Francis Hopkinson, consultant to the second committee, had several ideas that eventually made it into the seal: "white and red stripes with- in a blue background for the shield, a radiant constellation of thirteen stars, and an olive branch."[4] Hopkinson's greatest contribution to the current seal came from his layout of a 1778 50-dollar colonial note in which he used an unfinished pyramid in the design. The third and last seal committee of 1782 produced a design that finally satisfied Congress. Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, and William Barton, artist and consultant, borrowed from earlier designs and sketched what at length became the United States Seal.
The misinterpretation of the seal as a Masonic emblem may have been first introduced a century later in 1884. Harvard Professor Eliot Norton wrote that the reverse was 'practically incapable of effective treatment; it can hardly, (however artistically treated by the designer), look otherwise than as a dull emblem of a Masonic fraternity.[5]
Interpreting the Symbol
The "Remarks and Explanations" of Thomson and Barton are the only explanation of the symbols' meaning. Despite what anti-Masons may believe, there's no reason to doubt the interpretation accepted by the Congress.
The Pyramid signified Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favor of the American cause.[6]
The committees and consultants who designed the great Seal of the United States contained only one Mason, Benjamin Franklin. The only possibly Masonic design element among the very many on the seal is the eye of providence, and the interpretation of it by the designers is different from that used by Masons. The eye on the seal represents an active intervention of God in the affairs of men, while the Masonic symbol stands for a passive awareness by God of the activities of men.
The first "official" use and definition of the all-seeing eye as a Masonic symbol seems to have come in 1797 with The Freemasons Monitor of Thomas Smith Webb -- 14 years after Congress adopted the design for the seal. Here's how Webb explains the symbol.
"[A]nd although our thoughts, words and actions, may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet that All-Seeing Eye, whom the Sun, Moon and Stars obey, and under whose watchful care even comets perform their stupendous revolutions, pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart, will reward us according to our merits."[7]
The Eye in the Pyramid
Besides the subtly different interpretations of the symbol, it is notable that Webb did not describe the eye as being in a triangle. Jeremy Ladd Cross published The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor in 1819, essentially an illustrated version of Webb's Monitor. In this first "official" depiction of Webb's symbol, Cross had illustrator Amos Doolittle depict the eye surrounded by a semicircular glory.[8]
The all-seeing eye thus appears to be a rather recent addition to Masonic symbolism. It is not found in any of the Gothic Constitutions, written from about 1390 to 1730. The eye -- sometimes in a triangle, sometimes in clouds, but nearly always surrounded by a glory -- was a popular Masonic decorative device in the latter half of the 18th century. Its use as a design element seems to have been an artistic representation of the omniscience of God, rather than some generally accepted Masonic symbol.
Its meaning in all cases, however, was that commonly given it by society at large -- a reminder of the constant presence of God. For example, in 1614 the frontispiece of The History of the World by Walter Raleigh showed an eye in a cloud labeled "Providentia" overlooking a globe. It has not been suggested that Raleigh's story is a Masonic document despite the use of the all-seeing eye.
The eye of Providence was part of the common cultural iconography of the 17th and 18th centuries. When placed in a triangle, the eye went beyond a general representation of God to a strongly Trinitarian statement. It was during this period that Masonic ritual and symbolism evolved; and it is not surprising that many symbols common to and understood by the general society made their way into Masonic ceremonies. Masons may have preferred the triangle because of the frequent use of the number 3 in their ceremonies: three degrees, three original grand masters, three principal officers, and so on. Eventually the all-seeing eye came to be used officially by Masons as a symbol for God, but this happened towards the end of the eighteenth century, after congress had adopted the seal.
A pyramid, whether incomplete or finished, however, has never been a Masonic symbol. It has no generally accepted symbolic meaning, except perhaps permanence or mystery. The combining of the eye of providence overlooking an unfinished pyramid is a uniquely American, not Masonic, icon, and must be interpreted as its designers intended. It has no Masonic context.
Conclusion
It's hard to know what leads some to see Masonic conspiracies behind world events, but once that hypothesis is accepted, any jot and tittle can be misinterpreted as "evidence." The Great Seal of the United States is a classic example of such a misinterpretation, and some Masons are as guilty of the exaggeration as many anti-Masons.
The Great Seal and Masonic symbolism grew out of the same cultural milieu. While the all-seeing eye had been popularized in Masonic designs of the late eighteenth century, it did not achieve any sort of official recognition until Webb's 1797 Monitor. Whatever status the symbol may have had during the design of the Great Seal, it was not adopted or approved or endorsed by any Grand Lodge.
The seal's Eye of Providence and the Mason's All Seeing Eye each express Divine Omnipotence, but they are parallel uses of a shared icon, not a single symbol.
Re: The Ancient Craft
Gnosticism, as the Mother of Freemasonry, has imposed its mark in the very centre of the chief symbol
of this association. The most conspicuous emblem which one notices on entering a masonic temple, the one which figures on the seals, on the rituals, everywhere in fact, appears in the middle of the interlaced square and compass, it is the five pointed star framing the letter G. Different explanations of this letter G are given to the initiates.
The masonic G is said to signify "Geometry" for the lower grades
But for brothers frequenting lodges that admit women, it is said to signify "Generation" but this revelation is attended with great secrecy
Then For those found worthy to penetrate the sanctuary of the Knights Kadosch, the enigmatic letter becomes the initial of the doctrine of the perfect initiates which is "Gnosticism"
It is Gnosticism which is the real meaning of the G in the flamboyant star, for, after the grade of Kadosch (a Hebrew word meaning consecrated) the Freemasons dedicate themselves to the glorification of Gnosticism
The G which the Freemasons place in the middle
of the flamboyant star signifies Gnosticism and Generation,
the most sacred words of the ancient Cabala. " See Eliphas
Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, vol. II, p. 97.
On the subject of Hypnotism and Crime, Hudson, writing further, reaches however a fatally false conclusion
which for many years remained unchallenged.
He states (p. 140) " It is true that, on ordinary questions,the truth is always uppermost in the subjective mind.
A hypnotic subject will often say, during the hypnotic sleep, that which he would not say in his waking
moments. Nevertheless, he never betrays a vital secret...
That this is true is presumptively proved by the factthat in all the years during which the science of hypnotism has been practised, no one has ever been knownto betray the secrets of any society or order. Theattempt has often been made, but it has never succeeded."Hudson attributes this reticence to auto-suggestion
13. Hudson, The Law of Psychic Phenomena, p. 236
opposing the suggestion of another. This however isnot the case, for, where a member of a secret society
or order is concerned, that member was already hypnotized during initiation and it is not his will that guards
the secret," it is the will of another, the will of the Lodge.How many people know that hypnotism is about all
there is to initiation ? Hypnotism and fear. The rest is camouflage. In the event of this statement being doubted, we quote herewith from Freemasonry Universal an article which needs no further comment: 14
" The Stewards prepare the candidate ; the Tyler first, and afterwards in turn the I. G., Deacons and Junior Wardens should inspect the candidate to see that everything is strictly correct. " The preparation symbolises poverty, blindness (or ignorance) and poverty of spirit, — but it may also signify a purification, i.e., that the riches and pleasures which bind one to the material side of life are discarded and the spirit
blinded to their attractions. The baring of the right arm, left breast, left knee and right heel being slipshod, are apparently a reference to the awakening of occult centres in one's being which may only become active when purification of the whole nature has begun. " The very specific character of the preparation points
to real knowledge of the occult physiology of the process of initiation on the part of those who originated the method which has been so faithfully preserved. Certain Forces are sent through the candidate's body during the ceremony, especially at the moment when he is created, received and
constituted an Entered Apprentice Freemason. Certain parts of the Lodge have been very heavily charged with magnetic force especially in order that the Candidate may absorb as much as possible of this force. The first object of
14. Freemasonry Universal vol. V, Part 2, Autumn Equinox,
1929, p. 58.
this curious method of preparation is to expose to this influence those various parts of the body which are especially used in the ceremony. In ancient Egypt, there was another reason for these preparations, for a weak current of physical electricity was sent through the candidate by means of a rod or sword with which he was touched at certain points. It is partly on this account that at this first initiation the candidate
is deprived of all metals since they may very easily interfere with the flow of the currents. " All kinds of nice inspiring symbolical interpretations of the ritual are generally given for the benefit of people who seem to want them, but it is here evident that the candidate, unknown to himself or herself, has acted throughout the ceremony of initiation under the stress of hypnotism. No longer a free agent, the initiate takes the oath under hypnotic force which, has also been used to instil into him the feeling of fear. Fear guards the secret of initiation, fear born under the power of hypnotism to serve henceforth as the controlling agent of the initiators over the initiated. The Right Worshipful Master must be a genuine occultist, as it is up to him to charge (hypnotise) the candidate, for to give this in the words of Freemasonry Universal : " The R. W. M. gives the light, the pure white light of truth and illumination. 15 Illumination, alias Kundalini, alias Serpent power, alias Electro-magnetic force, alias the Sex force, etc. ! Even in our western world any one wishing to study Hatha Yoga can learn to neutralize the action of gravity and go some yards up in the air. This stunt, and the assumption of any size at will, are tricks for which training is essential, and if one works at it hard enough, one will eventually be able to mesmerise people for 15. Ibid., vol. V, Part 3, Winter Solstice, p. 108.
Interesting comments regarding "Temple will" guarding the initiateds secrets , that ties in with my thoughts on the use of fear and the potential embedded sleeper through these rituals in another post
Charged Magnetic forces dissipated through the initiate being used to embed the signature of the "Temples will" just like a welder is used to merge metal
So Fear can be used as a guardian as well as a tyrant , the interpretation of each particular situation has many variables
quicksilvercrescendo- Posts : 1868
Join date : 2009-12-01
Location : The Here & Now
Re: The Ancient Craft
From the ancient past; how primordial looking.
And the purpose? Lusting after the esoteric - The Inner Ring.
The masks to hide identities while on stage. Check out the men
with the balding heads - funny.
And the purpose? Lusting after the esoteric - The Inner Ring.
The masks to hide identities while on stage. Check out the men
with the balding heads - funny.
tgII- Posts : 2431
Join date : 2009-11-17
Re: The Ancient Craft
It is good when I get to see these rituals.
Because it confirms something deep within.
That I could never really partake, nor have an interest in any of it.
I am more of a solo-meditator at best.
The ritual, costumes and peripheri only impress and work upon my mind as a potent repellant.
And the use of Wagner for grand effect only solidifies that sentiment.
Because it confirms something deep within.
That I could never really partake, nor have an interest in any of it.
I am more of a solo-meditator at best.
The ritual, costumes and peripheri only impress and work upon my mind as a potent repellant.
And the use of Wagner for grand effect only solidifies that sentiment.
quicksilvercrescendo- Posts : 1868
Join date : 2009-12-01
Location : The Here & Now
Re: The Ancient Craft
Is that what that music was in the background, Wagner?
Really? Explains why it made me nauseated looking at those
clowns go through their ritual. Retards, those dipshits probably
don't even know why they are there.
No wonder it resonated dullness and death. Wagner is listened
to by people with no souls, or if they had a soul the reason it
was destroyed is because of the music listened to.
I hate Wagner, here's one reason why:
And here's another very good reason:
Hey, while I'm at it, check this short video out. Have you
been 'facebooked?'
Three cheers for all the egos on Facebutt!!!
Really? Explains why it made me nauseated looking at those
clowns go through their ritual. Retards, those dipshits probably
don't even know why they are there.
No wonder it resonated dullness and death. Wagner is listened
to by people with no souls, or if they had a soul the reason it
was destroyed is because of the music listened to.
I hate Wagner, here's one reason why:
And here's another very good reason:
- The Musical Soul of Scientific Creativity (MP3 audio file) I think
they pulverize Wagner in this discussion.
Hey, while I'm at it, check this short video out. Have you
been 'facebooked?'
Three cheers for all the egos on Facebutt!!!
tgII- Posts : 2431
Join date : 2009-11-17
quicksilvercrescendo- Posts : 1868
Join date : 2009-12-01
Location : The Here & Now
Re: The Ancient Craft
The purpose of the masks is of intrigue
The group mask wearing evokes in them to become "other than" or "more than" or even "bypass" the everyday limitations of their conditioned personalitys
It must allow them to be and express in the group with more profound conviction which must be important for the ritualistic induction of event they seek to occur
The group mask wearing evokes in them to become "other than" or "more than" or even "bypass" the everyday limitations of their conditioned personalitys
It must allow them to be and express in the group with more profound conviction which must be important for the ritualistic induction of event they seek to occur
Re: The Ancient Craft
Not sure about facebutt, people have their names and tell everyone when they are going on vacation and where and all that. Good for the thieves to know.....
It's a definite female social phenemona, and facebook is just using that to it's full benefit.
It's a definite female social phenemona, and facebook is just using that to it's full benefit.
My GOSH, no way, what is Seraphim doing. My Gosh it looks like a crazy too!Privacy is something that's now to be written for the history books. Just wait until hackers find out how to turn on the cameras on the new iphone.
seraphim- Posts : 1180
Join date : 2009-11-18
Re: The Ancient Craft
had to snigger at this guys contraption
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/herald-the-glasgow-uk/mi_8039/is_20100626/snoop-neighbour-camera-broom/ai_n54202697/
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/herald-the-glasgow-uk/mi_8039/is_20100626/snoop-neighbour-camera-broom/ai_n54202697/
Re: The Ancient Craft
Taken from Alice Baileys tibetan freemasonry writings ....it seems that the "door" they talk of here is only perceivable through a consciusness connecting with/through a group, something occurs and may be revealed to the persona at the particular time, only if he is in a specific group harmony of consciousness, something that they say is not recogniseable for the lone wolf prospector.
JUst trying to de-construct some of the allegorical references regarding this interpretation of initiation
The Door of Initiation
The real meaning underlying the phrase door of initiation is that of obstruction, of something which bars the way, of that which must be opened, or of that which hides or stands between the aspirant and his objective. This is a much more exact significance and one much more useful for the aspirant to grasp. The picture of a man moving along the Path of Evolution until suddenly one day he stands before an open door through which he may joyously pass has no faintest resemblance to the truth;
The soul - in its own nature - is group conscious and has no individual ambitions or individual interests, and is not at all interested in the aims of its personality. It is the soul which is the initiate. Initiation is a process whereby the spiritual man within the personality becomes aware of himself as the soul, with soul powers, soul relationships, and soul purpose. The moment a man realizes this, even in a small measure, it is the group of which he is conscious.
The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Introductory Remarks
This thought of group initiation must be remembered, for it will color all that I shall seek to convey to your minds and will hasten the day of your own acceptance.
No one is admitted (through the processes of initiation) into the Ashram of the Christ (the Hierarchy) until such time as he is beginning to think and live in terms of group relationships and group activities. Some well-meaning aspirants interpret the group idea as the instruction to them that they should make an effort to form groups - their own group or groups. This is not the idea as it is presented in the Aquarian Age, so close today; it was the mode of approach during the Piscean Age, now passed. Today, the entire approach is totally different. No man today is expected to stand at the center of his little world and work to become a focal point for a group. His task now is to discover the group of aspirants with which he should affiliate himself and with whom he must travel upon the Path of Initiation - a very different matter and a far more difficult one. He needs to bear in mind the meaning of the following words from the Archives of the Masters, given in question and answer form. The questions are addressed to the neophyte who is getting his first glimpse of group relations leading to group initiation:
The Master: And dost thou see the Door, O Chela in the light?
The neophyte: I see the door and hear a calling voice. What should I do, O Master of my life?
The Master: Go through that Door and waste not time in backward glances at the road just trodden. Go forward into light.
The neophyte: The door is far too narrow, O Master of my life. I fear I cannot pass.
The Master: Go closer to the Door and take the hand in thine of another pilgrim on the way of life. Go closer to the Door; seek not to enter it alone.
The neophyte: I cannot see the door, now that I grasp the hand of the brother on the right and the brother on the left. I seem surrounded by the pilgrims on the way. Alike they seem, their note is one; they seem like unto me, and press around on every side. I cannot see the door.
The Master: Move forward on the Path, O pilgrim in the light, and stand together, hand in hand, before the Door of Light. What seest thou?
The neophyte: The door again appears, and wide it seems, not narrow as before. What was that I saw before? It was not like the door which now confronts this band of brothers as we stand together on the Path.
The Master: The door you saw before was a figment of your mind; a thought-form of your separative creation, something that cuts you off from truth - too narrow for your passing yet full of wrong allure. Only the man who holds his brother's hand can see the Door in truth; only the man, surrounded by the many who are one, can enter by that Door which shuts itself upon the man who seeks to enter it alone."
http://www.home.no/alice.bailey.tibetain/freemasonry_master_tibetan/initiations.html
Re: The Ancient Craft
From an article in a uk magazine today about freemasons looking to project a more open public image
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17272611
Some excerpts that caught attention
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17272611
Some excerpts that caught attention
The report for the most part dodges such controversy, surveying members and the wider public on Masonic themes such as male bonding, charitable work and ritual. It argues that members value the community of Freemasonry and that outsiders are largely ignorant of how the organisation works.
With 250,000 members in England and Wales and six million around the world, they are a minority, albeit one associated with the levers of power. The first US President, George Washington, and another leading American revolutionary, Benjamin Franklin, were Masons. Today a significant proportion of the Royal Household are members, and the Duke of Kent is grand master of the United Grand Lodge of England.
Masonic rules demand that members support each other and keep each others' lawful secrets, which has led to fears of corrupt cliques developing.
It's nothing new, says Observer newspaper columnist Nick Cohen.
Ever since the 1790s Masons have been "whipping boys" for global conspiracy theorists, he argues, adding that after the French revolution, Catholic reactionaries were looking for a scapegoat and the Jews - the usual target - were too downtrodden to be blamed.
Continue reading the main story
Freemasons in popular culture
Freemasons Hall in London's Covent Garden stood in for MI5 headquarters in the BBC spy drama, Spooks (pictured above)
An episode of The Simpsons charted Homer's attempts to join a fictional secret society called the Stonecutters, and the comic disasters that ensued
Fred Flintstone of the eponymous 1960s cartoon belonged to a club with Masonic echoes - the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge, for men only
Do you have a question about the Freemasons?
It was the Freemasons' turn and the narrative of a secret society plotting in the shadows has never gone away, says Cohen. "You can draw a straight line from the 1790s onwards to the Nazis, Franco, Stalin right up to modern Islamists like Hamas."
The charter of Hamas - the Islamist party governing Gaza - states that the Freemasons are in league with the Jews and the Rotary Club to undermine Palestine.
These theories are "clearly mad", says Cohen, (Cohens got the obligatory PPE from Oxford) but attacking the Masons has become a staple for anyone suspicious of a New World Order.
Distrust remains strong. Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams controversially named a Freemason as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet. He had previously said that Freemasonry was "incompatible" with Christianity. In August 2010 it emerged that a new national Masonic lodge had been set up by senior police officers.
Former Home Secretary Jack Straw tried to address the issue of Freemasons working in the criminal justice system. In 1999, new judges were required to publicly disclose whether they were Masons.
But after a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, the requirement was dropped in 2009. Police officers have a voluntary requirement to disclose - but only to their superiors.
An open day at the Masonic lodge in Paris
Researching his book in the 1980s, Short found that "corruption in the police was enhanced and shielded by the Masonic lodges."
It's difficult to know whether anything has changed as the Freemasons do not make their membership list freely available, he says. Brown responds that to do so would breach data protection rules.
Given all the suspicion, it's hard not to feel sorry for Freemasons, says Cohen. (Cohens got the obligatory PPE from Oxford) (:
"Researching them, you do become rather sympathetic. If people want to say Freemason lodges are nests of corruption then fine. But they've got to prove it. It's no good just saying it."
Page 1 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Page 1 of 3
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum